Soul Within Steel
by The Marvelous Egghog
Summary: I shall no longer be the imitation. Soon, I shall find my own identity...
1. Prologue: Reawakening

…

…

_UNIT REACTIVATION. ACCESSING DATA LOG._

_TIME ELAPSED SINCE PRIOR MISSION: 234 DAYS_

_PRIOR MISSION: IFRIT SEALING_

_ALLIES: PROJECT "SHADOW"_

_RESULT: SUCCESS_

_DAMAGE RECEIVED: CHAOS EMERALD REMOVAL FROM TORSO_

_CURRENT STATIS: AWAITING NEW MISSION DIRECTIVE_

_

* * *

_

"…e-lo? …Hello? Metal, are you active?"

I activate my optical receptors to see who has awakened me. Unsurprisingly, it is a large man in a red coat with a large wisp of facial hair on his upper lip. My creator, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, nickname "Eggman". A wide grin stretches across his face as he sees me return to life.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Splendid! For a moment there, my boy, I feared you had not survived the procedure!" Procedure? What was he speaking of? "Oh, dear, you must still be restoring your memory files…after your last accomplishment of sealing the beast called the Ifrit, it seems Shadow assaulted you, removed your Chaos Emerald, and used it to escape that prison dimension. Do you recall?"

_Yes, I recall. You have your story wrong, though. _So as not to confuse him, however, I nodded my head.

"Yes, I thought you would. Well, regardless, I was able to modify your systems so that you may have access to all of your prior functions using your standard power supply. Isn't that grand?" If I could've smiled and rolled my eyes, I would have. However, I simply respond in the standard fashion.

"_Affirmative, doctor. All systems are fully operational._" The man laughed and hopped up and down, marveling in his success. At this, any organic creature would have laughed, I suppose. The doctor quickly stopped and coughed loudly, attempting to hide his joy, I assume.

"Yes, well, while it is gladdening that you are well, you have been out of commission quite a while. You should go to the Training Area in order to get the cricks out from your joints. Let's go, now, doctor's orders." He smiled beneath his mustache.

"_Understood. Heading to Training Area now._" I hopped off of the bed on which I had been inactive on and walked over to the door. However, as I prepared to exit, I had a thought. "_Query: where is the Training Area?_" The doctor facepalmed.

"Oi…just head to the bridge and ask for Ergo. He will take you there." With a quick nod I exited the door and shot off to the Bridge in a Sonic Boom.

* * *

You are most likely asking yourself who I am and just what is transpiring. Well, I shall inform you. This is the Egg Carrier, the flagship of the world's greatest scientific mind. I reside here with Doctor Robotnik, who bears with me almost a father-son bond.

As for whom I am? I am known as E-59 to my mechanical family. You, however, may refer to me as Metal Sonic. I was created for the original purpose to eliminate the world-renown hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, the one who I resemble.

But do not be fooled. I am the elite, I am the new age, and I am my own.

I am nobody's copy.


	2. Chapter 1: Training

"…So, he completely screwed that one up, right? If that wasn't bad enough, he actually thought it wise to tell that Dark Gaia thing what to do! I swear, I honestly don't know how a man with a 300 IQ can keep repeating the same mistakes. Also…"

Sigh. After making my way to the Bridge, I met up with my latest brother Ergo, who had assisted the doctor during the time he had released the beast Dark Gaia from the Earth's core. From what I heard, Sonic had been used to power the cannon the split the planet, and underwent a great deal of pain in the process. And this had been as _Super Sonic_. Doctor Robotnik actually defeated _Super Sonic_. Oh, how I wish I had been there for that…anyways, I'm certain I could've been a far greater asset than Ergo, who openly insults our creator. My circuits whir with rage. If this little cretin wasn't in the doctor's good graces, I swear I'd…

"—what do you think, Metal Sonic?" I snapped out of my trance as he addressed me. Resisting the urge to strike, I drummed up an answer.

"_I couldn't tell you, Ergo, I wasn't there._" He nodded, accepting my response. God above, I hoped he didn't go into another rant… "_Query: Are we almost at our destination?_" I asked, eager to get away from this robotic imp.

"Hm? Oh, yes. It's just at the end of this hall." That was enough for me. Putting my engine on full throttle, I blasted away, not bothering to look back as Ergo cursed angrily at being knocked back from my sudden takeoff.

* * *

Apparently, the doctor had been stepping it up in his designs for the ground troops. These Egg Fighters were far more durable than the E-1000s and Egg Pawns. Far more organized in their attack patterns, as well…

_**BOOM!**_

…but still no match for me. Curling into Spinball form, I propelled myself into the chest of one wielding a sword and shield, an "Egg Knight", I believe. The exterior lights on its torso exploded into bits of glass as the poor troop was sent flying into a Fighter. The Fighter in turn lost its balance and fell to the floor, and audible _crump_ noise indicating some vital component had been crushed. However, in my distraction, a Fighter rushed up behind me, ready to swing his fist at my head. Heh, what the amateur _didn't_ expect was for me to duck the blow, curl up into a Spin Dash, and split its head open with my razor-sharp spines. Quickly after using the fool as a makeshift spring to make my way to the next wave, I could hear its cranium burst into a fiery explosion.

Upon landing, the final three wasted no time coming at me, swords raised. However, something was odd about these Knights…was it their lack of care in how they approached…or that unnerving crackling noise coming from them? Zooming my vision in on them, I saw what the noise came from. Shit, electric shields. This would be tricky…I decided it best to take no risk, and utilize one of my primary weapons. Actually, one of my _only_ weapons. The air intake built into my chest began to spin, charging up energy as my opponents drew nearer and nearer…

_NOW! _Flaring my engine for a split second, I launched over the heads on my attackers, landing on the opposite side of them to where I had been moments before. The fools came at me once more, but it was past too late. "_ACTIVATE CORE WEAPON: PLASMA PULSE!_" On my command, the air intake ceased charging and released what it had gathered. A powerful beam of blue light burst from my chest, impaling all three of them. Before the beam had even ceased fire, the lot had exploded.

"**Training Regiment successful. 24 units destroyed, no damage taken."** A voice rung out from the ceiling. Saving the data on a new file in my mind, I hovered over to the entrance readied to exit. Taking a look back, I saw the cleanup crew had set off to work before I had even begun to leave. They gathered the remains of the final three I'd demolished, and disappeared through panels in the walls of the room, which quickly sealed back up. There was no evidence I had even been there. Shrugging, I finally exited, hitting the electronic lock for the door before taking off down the hallway.

"Hey, Metal Sonic! We saw the brawl from the security cameras! Nice work out there!"

As I was heading back to my room, I had been stopped by the five drones that monitored the cameras on the base and fixed problems accordingly. From my time since I was created, they had quickly become something of a fan base for me. And they had apparently seen my training session…

"Way to be, hedgehog! You went Terminator on their obsolete asses!"

"That was the best swath of destruction I've seen in one go since Gamma was around!"

"Killer, man. Seriously, seriously killer."

"I can't wait 'till we get you back out in the field! Sonic won't stand a chance!"

"_Er, your fanfare is appreciated, gentlemen, but I require rest to recharge… _" I insisted, trying to get past. Quickly nodding, the five took off in a different direction. I let out the robotic equivalent of a sigh, and continued on my way.

* * *

That night was so odd. Normally, I could fall into slumber on a whim, but there I lay awake in my stasis tube. I couldn't understand why, but the words of the Security Drones kept playing in my mind.

_Metal…_

_Terminator…_

_Destruction…_

_Killer…_

_Sonic…_

…Yes, that was still my purpose, wasn't it? Eliminate Sonic the Hedgehog by means of beating him at his own game. That one drone was right—at this rate, I could easily defeat Sonic the next time we met. So, why couldn't I take confidence in this? Why did the thought of destroying my arch rival make me so uncomfortable? As I dwelled on these things, sleep finally began to overtake me. However, before shutting down, I had one last thought.

Perhaps it is because that once Sonic has disappeared, so will my reasons for being alive…


End file.
